1880.] 
AMERICAN AGRIOULTUEI8T 
221 
Keeping One Cow. 
MANY MORE FAMILIES SHOULD KEEP OWE—HOW IT 
PAYS—AN EXAMPLE. 
A business man in New York, being troubled to 
get good milk for young children in his family, took 
our advice the latter part of the winter and, so to 
speak, went into the dairy business on his own ac¬ 
count. The result will be instructive to tens of 
thousands of families in cities and villages. He 
had no pasture grounds, the only convenience be¬ 
ing a roomy stall in a carriage barn, with oppor¬ 
tunity for the cow to sun herself and take limited 
exercise in a small area, say 15 by 20 feet, at the side 
of the barn, and this was seldom used. The stall 
is kept clean and neat, with fresh straw litter, aDd 
the cow has remained in excellent health and vigor. 
Chewing her cud and manufacturing milk seem to 
give all the exercise needed. Her feed has been 
bale hay, cut in a small hay-cutter and mixed wet 
with corn meal, bran, and shorts, with some un¬ 
cooked potato parings, cabbage leaves, left over 
rice, oatmeal, etc., from the kitchen. 
A laborer is paid $1 a week to milk and feed and 
brash her night and morning, and take care of the 
stable, and he is allowed any excess of milk she 
gives over 12 quarts a day. He prepares a mess for 
her noon feed, which is given by one of the boys at 
school when he comes home to lunch. The cow is 
a grade, probably 4th Jersey and i common blood. 
Her milk is rich, yields abundant cream, and as the 
owner’s family say, “Is worth fully double any 
milk we ever got from the bestmilkdealers.” One 
neighboring family gladly takes 6 quarts a day at 7 
cents a quart, and would willingly pay much more 
if it were asked, and other families would be happy 
to get some of it at 10 cents a quart; but 6 quarts 
are kept for home use, and it is valued far above 7 
cents a quart, and worth more than that amount in 
the saving of butter in cooking, making cake, pud¬ 
dings, etc. So it is a very low estimate to call the 
whole milk worth 7 cents a quart. No one could 
deprive our business friend or his family of their 
good, home produced milk, if it cost 10 or 12 cents 
a quart. An accurate account is kept of the feed ; 
the man in charge orders at the feed store anything 
he desires for the cow, and it is all down on a 
“pass-book.” Here are the figures for 100 days past: 
The Cow’s Debit and Credit for 100 Days. 
Dr. 
850 lbs. bale Hay, at $22 per toil .$ 9 35 
1,000 lbs. Corn Meal, at $1.35 per 100 lbs.13 50 
400 lbs. Bran, at $1.30 per 100 lbs .— 5 20 
200 lbs. Fine Feed, *• Shorts,” at $1.55 per 100 lbs. 3 10 
20 bundles of bedding Straw. 10c. 2 00 
Paid man for care and milfcag, $1 per week .. 14 30 
Total expenses for 100 days.$47 45 
Cr. 
1,200 Quarts of best milk (12 quarts per day), at " c_$8t 00 
Money profit in 100 days.$36 55 
Or, to put it in another way, the 600 quarts sold 
•actually brought iu $42 cash, and the entire 600 
quarts used at home cost $5.45. The cow cost, say 
$65. The entire care, which was not paid in the 
surplus of milk above 12 quarts per day, is charged 
in the expenses^above. The manure produced, if 
sold, would more than meet interest on cost of cow, 
and any depreciation in value by increasing age. 
Allow the above average to be kept up only 200 
days in a year, and at the end of that time suppose 
the cow is sold for half price ($32.50), and a fresh 
one substituted, there would still be a gain of 
$40.60 for 200 days, or for a year a profit of $74.10. 
With good feed the $65 cow will keep up a full sup¬ 
ply of milk at least 26 weeks, and then be worth $40 
for continued milking and breeding. Sell her then 
and buy another fresh cow for $65—a loss of $50 a 
year. The above liberal allowance of $47.45 for 
feed and care 100 days, amounts to $173.19 a year. 
Adding the loss of $50 for purchasing two fresh 
cows, makes the total annual expense $223.19, This 
would make the supply of milk,12 quarts a day (4,380 
quarts), cost about 5 cents per quart, or not quite 
51 cents for 10 quarts. This is not an exaggerated 
estimate for a $65.00 cow, renewed every 26 weeks. 
The feed and care may be very much less than the 
above $47.45 per 100 days, by saving all waste 
foods suitable for a cow, and by securing pasturage 
7 or 8 months, and especially when a cow can be 
cared for by members of the family, thus saving 
$52.00 a. year. Taking the country as a whole, 
probably $50 will ordinarily buy a cow that will, on 
fair feed, average 10 to 12 quarts per day for the 
first six months after calving. 
Let Village Residents Keep Oows. 
Every family on a farm of course keeps one or 
more cows, but we claim that the dwellers iu vil¬ 
lages, and very many in cities can, and should, each 
keep a Cow. Good, milk Is the best of all food for 
young children, and it goes a great ways in saving but¬ 
ter bills, and in the preparation of palatable nourish¬ 
ing food of many varieties. The above actual results 
show the economy of keeping one’s own cow. Two 
to five families, according to sixe and num¬ 
bers, can readily unite in having one cow 
kept, dividing the milk and expenses, and 
thus always have good, pure, rich milk at 
very moderate cost. The suitable refuse 
from the kitchens of three or four families 
would go a good way towards reducing 
the cost of purchased food. In rural vil¬ 
lages summer pasturage can be obtained 
near at hand, which, with a daily feed 
of good meal will furnish a large supply 
of rich milk at a low cost. A boy can be 
secured at a small price to drive the cow 
to the pasture iu the morning, and return 
her at night to the stable. A stable or 
stall can always be obtained at a trifling 
rent, and be kept clean. There are always 
plenty of gardeners or farmers who will 
gladly take the manure away so frequent¬ 
ly as to prevent it being a nuisance, or disagreeable. 
We have no doubt that all residents of Villages, Man¬ 
ufacturing Tovms, etc.,oan, by arrangements like the 
above, secure an abundant supply of pure, rich, fresh, 
healthful milk sit less than three cents 
per quart, and, at the same time add. greatly to 
their home comforts, and save the health if not the 
lives of their little ones. 
The One Cow Prize Essay. 
Our recent offer of Prizes for Essays had in mind 
helping families, especially villagers, in the way of 
keeping their own cows. The proposals, as it hap¬ 
pened, did not quite state what we really intended, 
and the Judges, in awarding the prizes, very prop¬ 
erly decided in accordance with the terms of the 
offer. The first prize essay is given on page 220. 
One or more of the others will probably be given 
as we find spaoe for them. Indeed, it will perhaps 
be best to incorporate several of the Essays in a 
small Manual, for the instruction of those who can 
aDd ought to keep one cow. The Essay (page 220) 
will be found usefully suggestive on this point, not 
only to village residents, but to many farmers also. 
A Lawn Sweeper 
In the Lawn Mowers of the English style there 
Is a provision for taking up the grass as it is cut 
American Mowers rarely have this handy attach¬ 
ment, for the reason that in our climate, when 
the grass is cut fre¬ 
quently, the short 
clippings shrivel 
up in a few hours, 
and are soon prac¬ 
tically disposed 
of. In the moist 
climate of England 
the removal of the 
dippings is neces¬ 
sary, while with 
us they may usu¬ 
ally be left without 
much disfiguring 
the lawn. Still, 
where the grass is 
thick, the clippings 
will often show 
and, especially if the grass is a little long, neatness 
requires it to be raked up. Indeed, many who are 
particular about the condition of their lawn, have 
come to the conclusion that it Is on the whole bet¬ 
ter to remove the clippings, thinking that the ad¬ 
vantage claimed by allowing them to remain as 
mulch, does not offset the slovenly appearanoe 
caused by the dry grass, and say that when the 
grass Is properly thick, it affords sufficient shade 
for its own roots, In order to allow those who 
wish to do 60 , to take up the grass, the makers of 
the Philadelphia Lawn Mower have produced a 
Lawn Sweeper. This consists essentially of a 
rapidly revolving broom with a receptacle for hold¬ 
ing the grass. The hand sweeper, as it appears 
when ready for use, is shown in figure 1, and figure 
2 shows the various parts as they are separated 
ready for packing. The adjustments for bringing 
the brush to the proper hight above the ground 
are simple and easily made, and the collected grass 
Fig. 1,— THE LAWN SWEEPER, READY FOR USE. 
is readily discharged. While the broom, made of 
split cane or rattan, is very durable, it is so arranged 
that repair's may be readily made ; indeed all the 
parts are strong and serviceable, and the whole has 
the substantial air desirable in a machine for use 
rather than for show. Not only is the Sweeper 
useful for gathering the grass clippings, but by 
taking up rubbish of every kiud, it will greatly aid 
in the neat keeping of the lawn. Any one who has 
raked over the grass in early spring is aware of the 
great amount of trash that accumulates ; this cau 
be taken off by the Sweeper with more ease and 
much more thoroughly than can be done by the 
rake. It is the practice with many to apply to 
the grass in fall a top-dressing of fine manure or 
compost; the remains of this dressing, after all the 
soluble parts have been washed out of it, can be 
most readily removed by the Sweeper, while for 
taking up fallen leaves in autumn it will do most 
efficient service. The Hand-mower, the one shown 
in the engraving, has a width of 24 inches, A 
horse machine is made with a sweeping breadth of 
40 inches, and is so arranged that its contents may 
be dumped without stopping. In the introduction 
of the Lawn Sweeper as supplementary to their 
Lawn Mower, Messrs. Graham, Emlen & Passmore, 
have contributed greatly to the ease with which a 
lawn may be kept in the best possible condition 
When a machine was received for trial we examined 
it sufficiently to see the working of its parts, and 
left it in the hands of the man who does the work 
of caring for the lawn, without any special com¬ 
ment In a day or two after the verdict was volun¬ 
teered: “ I want to say that that Lawn Sweeper is a 
very practical and useful machine.”—Certainly the 
makers could have no more favorable oomment than 
this from a practical man that their machine is 
both " practical and useful.” 
Fig. 2.— THE LAWN SWEEPER, SHOWING THE PARTS. 
